A Scotsman’s home is no longer his castle – The Spectator

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f you suggest to an English politician that your home should be your castle to use as you like, he will probably nod. Tell that to a member of the SNP ruling class in Bruntsfield or Kelvingrove, however, and they will take any such view as a challenge to be overcome.

A couple of years ago, following a public consultation answered by a whacking 122 respondents, the SNP quietly changed Scottish building regulations. The new rules allow the government at a future date to order every homeowner in Scotland to install smoke detectors and other safety devices of a type dictated by it, whether they liked it or not. That date is now set for February 2022. Last week Scots householders were given their orders in the unequivocal, if bossy, style typical of the new model Scots bureaucrat.

Every living room, hall and landing must have a smoke detector. Not any smoke detector, mind you. It must either have irremovable tamper-proof batteries or be wired in by a professional electrician so you cannot switch it off. And if one detector goes off, all of them must, to prevent you sleeping through them. Your kitchen is to have a heat detector and any room with a fireplace (even unused) a carbon monoxide alarm. Already have perfectly good smoke detectors? Sorry: if they aren’t exactly right you must upgrade. For an average house this costs about £220, assuming you do the job yourself: for many, it will cost more, and tradesmen come extra. What if you don’t? The local authority can in the last resort intervene and make you do as you are told.

All this is presented as sweet reasonableness with a dash of paternalism. It nevertheless represents a degree of state interference that ought to worry anyone.

For one thing, it sets personal choice at nought. Everyone knows smoke and carbon monoxide alarms make houses marginally safer. Many decide to fit them. But there are downsides. If you live in a Georgian terrace with a fireplace you may prefer period features undefiled by the kind of unsightly plastic growths you see every day on your office ceiling, even if it does mean a marginally increased risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. If you smoke (still graciously allowed at home despite the nannying tendencies of the SNP) you may prefer not to hazard an ear-splitting shriek if a whiff goes the wrong way; if you are cooking for a dinner party in a small but hot kitchen, the last thing you want is to have to break off to silence a heat alarm. The choice of whether to take such risks in your own home should be yours, not that of some government functionary.

Pensioner, 94, dies in driveway of Scots home after waiting four hours for ambulance crew – Daily Record

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A 94-year-old man died in the driveway of his own home after waiting four-and-a-half hours for an ambulance amid a worsening NHS crisis.

And exactly a week later 67-year-old Helena Walker was kept waiting eight hours for an ambulance before spending another eight hours on a trolley in a hospital corridor after a stroke.

Yesterday the man’s heartbroken family, who asked not to be identified, called for answers on the “despicable” delay in getting him emergency treatment.

And Helena’s husband Graham, 67, called for government action to tackle ambulance waiting times.

Last week the Daily Record told how there has been in increase in the number of urgent 999 calls not seeing an ambulance quickly – with about three in 10 patients now waiting longer than 10 minutes for medics to arrive.

Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie called the two cases “harrowing” and said they showed “the lives of Scots have been put at risk due to the SNP’s failure to re-mobilise the NHS and support ambulance services”.

SNP branded ‘opponents’ of North Sea oil industry after signing deal with Greens – Daily Record

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The SNP has been branded an opponent of Scotland’s North Sea oil and gas industry after unveiling a partnership deal with the Greens.

Both the Tories slammed the agreement today after Nicola Sturgeon confirmed her intention to work alongside the environmentalists at the Scottish Parliament.

Nicola Sturgeon has ‘clearly failed’ on education claims author – The Scotsman

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The author of a new book investigating the state of Scottish education says the First Minister has failed on her record.

 

Damning stats show hundreds of Scots families in temporary accommodation for years – Daily Record

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The Scottish Conservatives said figures showing people waiting over three years to move out of temporary accommodation were a national disgrace.

The SNP have been accused of “slamming the door” in the faces of families who are looking for a permanent home as figures revealed hundreds have been living in temporary accommodation for more than three years.

The Scottish Conservatives have described the lack of social housing as a “national disgrace” after uncovering figures showing 275 Scottish families have been living in temporary accommodation for at least three years.